


Forlorn Outlook

by ColeTReed



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 04:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColeTReed/pseuds/ColeTReed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin’s missed a lot of work this spring, and Michael intends to find out what’s going on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forlorn Outlook

It was a bright and sunny day in the town of Austin, Texas.  In usual fashion, the gang at Achievement Hunter were inside, playing video games for the entertainment of their online fanbase.  Well, most of them were. 

Of the six regulars, only Gavin was missing, him having taken the day off for an illness of some sort.  Michael had noticed that Gavin had been taking quite a lot of sick days lately, and began to wonder if perhaps there was something more to it than just some stomach bug that refused to go away.  At first, he hadn’t thought much about it, but after the thirteenth sick day was taken, he knew something was up, especially considering that Gavin was usually (as much as he hated to admit it) the hardest worker out of the group, and would come in even when he was sick.

It was for this reason that he arrived at the Ramsey house, entering into the back, where Gavin’s renovated room lied. 

Michael was of average height and build, with curly red hair, plenty of freckles, and a pale skin tone from lack of interaction with the sun.  He was in his early twenties, and had a rough personality, but was a genuinely good person at heart.

He began knocking, receiving no response.  Pulling out a key given to him from Geoff (mentioning that Gavin would likely not come to the door), he forces the door open and sees a pitch black room, devoid of any life.  The windows were drawn shut, lamps off, and the only light coming from television sets, a laptop and computer.  He couldn’t help but notice they were all weather related, highlighting tomorrow’s storm system coming through.  It was then that he finally noticed Gavin, curled into a ball on his bed, his comforter engulfing his body, only his head poking through, him not even noticing Michael’s presence.

“And as we’re already mentioned, this small area of Texas just outside of Austin has been put into a slight risk of severe weather, with a tornado thread of around 5%, high gusting winds being the primary threat…” Michael hears, a weatherman recapping the latest weather system. 

“Uh..  Gavin?” he says loudly, walking deeper into the house, and closing the door behind him.  What little light the outside world offered was now gone, and Gavin’s face was only illuminated by the neon light of the computer and television.  Gavin doesn’t seem to know he’s there still, his eyes shut tight, and him lying feebly.

“GAVIN?” Michael screams a bit louder, this time getting Gavin’s attention, him springing up, still curled in the comforter, not letting it go in the slightest.

“Michael!  What are you doing here?” he says, a sound of shock and surprise going through his voice, as well as a bit of embarrassment. 

Michael plops down right next to Gavin on his bed, putting his hand on Gavin’s head, feeling for a fever.  “Dude, you ok?  You’ve missed a lot of work this month, and I’m just worried.” Michael says with a friendly concern.

Gavin doesn’t have a fever, and he certainly looks fine to Michael, but…  He does look bad.  Michael’s never seen him like this before, he looks…  Scared?

“I’m fine Michael, just go away, I don’t want to get you sick, just..  Just…  Go away!” he hears Gavin say, coming out of the comforter and trying to push him off the bed.  Gavin is tall, skinny and extremely well tanned.  His hair was sticking up everywhere, a tad greasy from lack of a proper shower.  Hailing from England, spoke with a British accent, and had an air of formality in his voice. 

Michael isn’t budging, noticing that Gavin seems more fidgety than normal.  Not that Gavin could move him anyway; he outweighed him and outmuscled him easily.

“Nah, I’m going to stay here until you tell me what’s wrong.  Jesus Christ, you stink too, when’s the last time you took a shower?  And why the hell are you in the dark cowering in a bed?” Michael says, asking him in an angry, yet respectable tone, demanding an answer quickly.

Gavin sits back down on the bed, pulling the comforter around him again, trying to block him out apparently.  “None of your business, just go away!”

Michael the proceeds to sit on him.

“AHHH, what the hell! Michael!” Gavin screams, trying to push the man off him, without much avail. 

“Not till you tell me ev-“ Michael says, now noticing that Gavin has stop moving.  Michael lifts his rear up, checking to make sure he’s still breathing.  He is, he just seems to have given up rather quickly.

“You’ll just make fun of me, and I’d rather just not get ridiculed about this every week, thank you very much..  I’ll be fine in a month or two when this bloody American weather pattern is over.” He says, in an almost pouty voice.

Michael gives him a look of complete oddity.  “Gavin?”

Gavin lets out a big sigh, finally caving in.  “Michael, your bloody weather here scares the living daylights out of me, I don’t know how you manage to stay here and not go completely mental.  You actually have a full three or four months where everything goes wonky and you actually get stuff like tornados that DESTROY your buildings and lives!”

Michael takes a look at Gavin, everything  ** _sort_** of making sense now.  Gavin HAD missed work whenever there was bad weather, and seemed to run home if things ever got worse than a little bit of a sprinkle.  But..  What was he so scared about? 

It was true; spring in America was rough for a big chunk of the central states ranging from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and several other central states, the place actually being named Tornado Alley for the spin ups they’d get every spring from March until the middle or end of June.  It was a serious problem, to be sure, though with property safety plans and advanced notice, most people can avoid serious injury and death.  Hell, most meteorologists could see the threats days in advance.  There was always injury and death though, and while it was sad…  Well, it was unavoidable in some situations. 

“Gavin, I don’t know why-“ Michael starts.

“DON’T SAY IT.” Gavin screams in anger.

Michael looks at the mess he’s sitting on, him really angry now. 

“I…  I can’t explain it Michael, it’s like paranoia.  Don’t tell me I shouldn’t be scared, because I bloody am, and I can’t control it.  I see the stations calling for severe weather, and I just freak out.  I see the lines on the weather stations moving toward us, and I just… I can’t look away.  I can’t fix it, I can’t control it, I just have to sit there and watch it slowly move toward me, and I HATE IT.  It’s mental, I get that, I just…  I can’t help it.” He says, popping his head out from Michael’s lap. 

Michael looks at him, seeing that he’s being sincere.  Gavin really was sacred about this.  Michael didn’t know about paranoia, he really wasn’t scared of stuff like that, but he’d read about it. 

Michael gets off Gavin finally and just lies down next to him.  “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Gavin plops his head deep into the pillow.  “I did, I told Geoff.  He told me I was nuts and to just nutt up or some nonsense.”

Michael made a mental note to kick Geoff in the balls later.

“Well, let’s talk about it.  I’m not saying you have to get over it, but..  I mean, this isn’t healthy to just curl up and panic all the time.  You need to chill out some too, or find a way to not think about it.  Meditate or some shit.” Michael says, looking into Gavin’s eyes.

“I mean…  The storms won’t even be here until tomorrow…” Michael says, putting his hand on Gavin’s shoulder.  “Let me help you man…”

_________________

(The Next Day)

Gavin felt the all too familiar ball of icy panic in his stomach.  It was sickening, and he wanted to vomit.  Even with Michael here, it didn’t make things much better.  Though…  At least he wasn’t alone this time.

Michael had turned off all his computers and laptops, just leaving his cell phone far across the room, the emergency text service still working and a weather radio turned on as well for good measure.  The rain was already falling, Gavin already feeling nervous. 

“What do you want to watch?” he says, throwing Gavin a pile of DVDs.  He goes through them, picking out one he’d enjoyed, handing it off to Michael who pops it into the DVD player.  The movie starts, and the two of them sit next to each other in awkward silence.   

Thunder rumbles in the distance, and Gavin immediately panics, wanting to go back into his bedroom and check the weather on his laptop, to see if he needs to take immediate cover.  He’s barely a foot off the ground when he feels Michael pull him down by the scruff of his shirt.  “Nah, you’re staying here.” He says plainly.

“But Michael, I-“ Gavin says, him giving into Michael, getting pulled into his lap. 

“It won’t do you any good, and you’ll just panic more, watch the movie, and take your mind off it.  If we need to take cover, the phone or radio will let us know.” Michael says, keeping him from moving.

Gavin pouts.  He knew Michael was right, but frankly didn’t care.  It would make him feel worse, but at least he’d be safe in having some knowledge of the situation.  He felt alone without the internet and his radars, alone and unsafe.

Michael tightly hugs Gavin, not letting him move.  “Ok, if the movie isn’t working, let’s do something else.  Games?”

Gavin shook his head.  “No, I’d like to enjoy the video games, not play them in terror.”

Michael sighed, Gavin could tell he was getting fed up with him.  Not that Gavin blamed him, he knew he was insane about the whole situation, but…  Well, he’d hoped that maybe someone could understand.  He’d been foolish to think Michael would be the one for that.

“Well, if movies don’t’ work and you can’t play games, just talk or some shit, I dunno.” Michael says, throwing Gavin off of him into the floor.

Gavin sits there a minute, trying to think of something to say.

 “Did I ever tell you the story about the time I caught my parent’s house on fire?”

______________

It was nearly midnight by the time Michael saw Gavin finally drift off to sleep, only a few minor thunderstorms remaining in the area.  Talking seemed to do the trick, him noticing that it calmed Gavin down more than pretty much anything. 

He must really liked hearing himself talk, because it was one-sided conversations one after another.  Not that he minded, he was glad to see his friend calm down.  Yeah, Gavin still got really jumpy, especially when the weather radio started blaring about a tornado watch, but he calmed right back down, muttering some nonsense about his pet dog he once had that ate an entire burrito and proceeded to vomit it all over some sort of member of parliament. 

Michael stared at Gavin, still unable to grasp this man.  Wet bread?  Weather warnings that hadn’t even happened yet?  How could people even think like that?  He didn’t get it, but…  Well, he supposed that was why they were human.  No two people are exactly alike, so Michael supposed that carried over to fears as well. 

There was a part of Michael that seriously wondered how Gavin could be scared of something so stupid.  Especially when nothing happened, and that it was out of his control to do anything about it anyway.  Gavin was a pretty smart guy despite his stupid things he said and did online.  How could someone like him get so worked over something so…

“Thank you Michael.” He hears Gavin say, stirred awake from Michael’s fidgeting. 

Michael smiles.  “It’s fine.  So do you think you can come into work tomorrow?” he says with a voice of eager hope.

Gavin thinks for a second or two, his eyes halfway closing in deep thought.  “I guess…  Can you just talk to me while we work?” he says plainly.

Michael nods.  “Yep.  Besides, I want to know the end to that story about that wild weekend you had with that-“

Thunder booms, the two of them both jumping in surprise.


End file.
